Anora cleans up at DGA and PGA Awards
Sean Baker and Anora took home top prizes at both Guild ceremonies.
Photo by Amy Sussman (Getty Images for DGA)
Surely, sending awards watchers into a complete spiral as the Oscars approach, Sean Baker and Anora took home the top prizes at the DGA and PGA awards last night. Baker won the Directors Guild of America’s Theatrical Feature award and the Producers Guild’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Picture for his Cinderella story about a motormouth sex worker. This win, along with the film’s Critics Choice success this weekend, has made it an unexpected Oscar favorite heading into the season’s final stretch.
Other winners at the DGA awards include RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys and Porcelain War duo Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev. Meanwhile, over at the Producers Guild, The Wild Robot took home the award for Animated Theatrical, and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story won for Documentary.
Earlier this weekend, Anora also won top prizes at the Critics Choice Awards. The trio of wins have seemingly made the unexpected gangster comedy a top contender for Oscars as it awaits one crucial viewer: Sean Baker’s mother. In his acceptance speech for the DGA Awards, Baker shocked Hollywood by revealing that his mother, who had encouraged Baker since childhood to pursue directing, has yet to see his latest award winner. Not only that, Baker claims he doesn’t want her to see the film, which might hurt his chances if she’s a voter.
“My mother brought me to a local library when I was 5 years old, and they happened to be playing clips from the Universal Monster films,” he said. “I saw a scene from Frankenstein, 1931, James Whale, and that burned right into the prefrontal cortex. The next morning, I told my mother I wanted to be a director.”
“She supported me all the way. Unfortunately, I’m not really making the movies she wants me to make. I don’t think she’s seen Anora. I don’t want her to see Anora. Starlet was the last one she watched.”
We can only hope that no mothers in the voting body are sympathetic to parents who are denied access to their children’s creative efforts. We’re sure Jon M. Chu has shown his mother Wicked, we say as we look disapprovingly at a photo of Mr. Baker.
Here are the winners from the DGA Awards:
Theatrical Film: Sean Baker, Anora